This invention relates to a connector for establishing a fluid communication controlled by a valve, for use in the medical field in particular.
It relates more precisely to a connector comprising a rigid casing and an elastically deformable valve, the casing defining an elongated chamber along an axis of this chamber having a distal end and a proximal end, and being accessible, on the one hand, via a fixed end piece protruding axially into the distal end of the chamber and, on the other hand, by an axial channel formed at the proximal end of the chamber and into which a movable end piece can be inserted, and the valve being a single-piece, leak-proof walled tubular body made of an elastomeric material, which is housed inside the chamber, this valve having a distal end consisting of a tubular space into which said fixed end piece penetrates, and having an opposing end which is shaped in particular in order to form a plug inside said axial channel, this plug being slotted in order to communicate with said tubular space, the valve and the casing being shaped and dimensioned such that the plug is elastically movable between a closed position wherein it is in sealed contact with the wall of the channel and is laterally constrained by this wall so as to close the slot, and an open position wherein the plug is no longer laterally constrained by the wall of the channel so that the slot thereof can open.
Among the connectors of this type, the invention relates to those the valve of which is elastically deformable inside said chamber when same is pushed by the movable end piece inserted into said channel while creating a spring effect which enables same to resume the initial shape thereof when the movable end piece is withdrawn from said channel.
Connectors the valve of which has a spring-effect capacity are described in particular in the publications WO 97/21463, WO 98/50106, U.S. Pat. No. 6,068,011, EP 0 748 635, U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,676,346, 5,814,024 and 5,806,831.
The invention does in fact aim to provide a connector the valve of which is a laterally sealed single piece, which is elastically deformable with a spring effect, which surrounds the fixed end piece like the finger of a glove, and which meets several requirements:                the valve slot must open upon connection to the movable end piece, and completely expose the inside hole of the connected end piece, in order to enable a proper flow of the perfused liquid;        it must be possible to push the valve and immobilise the movable end piece (male Luer) with a moderate force of the order of 30 Newtons (#3 kg);        the valve must not create a dead volume inside the connector, which is synonymous with suction upon disconnection;        it must resist a strong liquid counter-pressure, which is possible with syringes and stopcock manifolds, for example;        it must be easy to clean, without any recesses or holes at the surface thereof, in order to not “hide” bacteria prior to connecting the movable end piece (male Luer); for this reason, it must always rise back up completely after disconnecting.        